There was a little more rain overnight, but even less than the night before. We got under way just after 9, knowing the first lock was not far away. Above Radcot Lock there’s a canoe pass, which looks more fun than portage.
Radcot Lock was on self service although the lock keeper was there doing jobs. He asked us to wait until 9.30 to work the lock, and he did some gates and paddles too. The area below the lock is flat, the river is very bendy, and the skies are quite big even if they were cloud-filled.
At Rushey Lock we stopped to use the bins. Above the lock there’s a collection of Environment Agency boats, including one with a blue light on top.
The lock itself had a keeper on duty, and we were soon through. Below the lock, Tadpole Bridge is the main landmark.
Parts of the next section are very overgrown, and the twists and turns mean it’s often difficult to work out which way the river goes next.
Ten Foot Bridge is open again, with the work now finished. Here I got the line through the bridge completely wrong, and we ended up in the willows. Funnily enough, I’d just said about how the bend had been sharper going the other way than I’d expected. We’d hoped the mooring at Shifford Lock would be free, but the EA boat was still there, and we didn’t want to moor alongside it again. The lock keeper on duty there was the relief keeper who’d told us at the weekend that we could moor at Buscot for nothing. We arrived about 10 minutes before the noon locking, but spent so long chatting to her that it was actually 12.30 before we got into the lock — having decided to carry on the Newbridge. The next section is much less bendy, and at Newbridge we spotted Cobwebs Afloat moored up. A space just behind them turned out to be not deep enough, but we found a bit of bank further down. The bank is at roof level, but the bow is against a bit which has a couple of steps cut into it, so getting on and off isn’t too bad.
This afternoon, we went for a drink with Mark and Neil from Cobwebs Afloat. There are two pubs here, one either side of the bridge, and we chose the Rose Revived. We sat in the garden and had a very pleasant afternoon.
The bridge itself is narrow, and there’s another one just beyond which goes over a dried-up backwater. Each has traffic lights, and at one stage they’d got out to sync, causing traffic chaos. The other pub. The Maybush, also has a traffic light to get out of its car park, but there’s a pedestrian crossing-style button to push!
9 miles, 3 locks, free mooring. (129 miles, 48 locks, £157.50)